Just a Few
by Bitter is Better
Summary: Draco and Ginny just move into a new flat. Ginny gets sick and Draco goes shopping. Hilarity ensures.


As/N: Well the first story of three is edited. It was fun because we got to put purple hyphens all over the place. Purple hyphens are fun, as we discovered. We forgot- well, didn't realize rather- how oddly screwed up this story actually is. We didn't realize it was this odd when we were writing it. This story was inspired by one of out trips to a very large mall and an extremely strange shopping trip this summer. Enjoy.

Just a Few

Draco ignored Ginny's grumblings as he went about the apartment they had recently acquired. The only so-called furniture that filled the two bedroom loft was a wide selection of boxes, all of which Draco was tapping with his wand. It was all for a good cause of course, the tapping that is, you see, Ginny wasn't supposed to though them.

It had been two days since they had moved into their new flat- being the plutonic friends that they were- and Draco had not let his roommate tough a thing. This was because Ginny- being the Weasley that she was- had had just a few too many late nights getting their old, and rather dingy, flat ready for their move. She had worn herself right out, causing a rather nasty cough and, in Draco's opinion, a very annoying case of the sniffles.

For the fear of her symptoms getting worse and in turn his sanity, he had not allowed the over ambitious red head to touch anything. Do Draco had confined his roommate to bed and had charmed all the boxes- which he knew she was itching to unpack- with wards to send her back to bed.

His personal favorite one was when she touched a box and his face would appear, scowling at her saying, "Draco says NO! Go back to bed." Then a lovely image of a bed would appear with an arrow saying, "You should be here."

"Now gin, you stay in bed and I should be back before it's time for you to have more soup," he yelled in an almost nurturing tone.

"No more soup! I can't take it any more," came a stuffed up voice before it broke off into some rather wet sounding hacks.

"No talking!" he yelled back. "And no more trying to get out of bed."

"You've become very negative since this whole sick thing happened," she shouted back, yet received no answer except for the sound of the door being closed firmly.

Draco smirked triumphantly for whinnying that exchange before he sighed. The things he did for his frustratingly stubborn, snot filled – but still horridly attractive- roommate. Not that he would ever admit to her that she was attractive for that would just cause all sorts of awkwardness. And awkward was not something that Draco liked feeling, Malfoys were not awkward people.

No, he would continue to live his life denying to himself and others that he found Ginny attractive in any way other than a friend. He would continue to claim she was a very ugly friend that was too flat and too skinny. Really, he didn't think she was too flat or too skinny, but it made for a good cover story. He let out another sigh and stopped short. How had he managed to walk to the toy story already? Apparently, the red head took more time to think about then he initially thought. He paused then entered the story.

"Please Mummy; I just was a few more stuffed animals. It would make my knarl collection complete," a child whined.

"Sweet ling, you don't need any more stuffies. You can't see the floor of your room and your Daddy is getting tired of wading through things that squeak at him," the child's mother consoled.

"But I want a knarl! I WANT ONE NOW!" the miscreant's voice crescendoed and Draco left the shop before he could get a headache.

"What a rotten spoiled little brat. My children will never be that whiney. It isn't proper." Shaking his head, Draco continued down the street, trying to find another story that would sell him something soft and squishy, for that was what he was looking for, something soft and squishy for his- for Ginny to hold onto. He suspected she would appreciate some such thing seeing as three of the boxes that littered their flat were filled with the creepy eyed creatures already. He absolutely hated when she had them sitting on her wardrobe, staring down at him. His willingness to buy her one was a mark of how much he was truly willing to go for her. He knew that she would never realize what he went through but he thought it was better that way. Besides, Malfoys were not afraid of just a few stuffies.

He walked into a store a few shops down and was please to hear no children, whining or otherwise. He glances around the empty place then made his way to the back where a shelf of stuffed animals sat, all staring at him with their creepy, vacant, bead eyes.

Ignoring them, he reached out and plucked a squishy looking dragon off of the shelf. He hastily put it back after realizing it was as stiff as an over stuffed pillow. He let his eyes begin to wander, ignoring the eyes, trying to find a squishier one.

He spotted a plump, but not too overly stuffed, crup. Crups were certainly proper cute things and he was certain that his fiery lov- roommate would squeal over it. He poked it and it growled at him. Well that wouldn't do at all. Back on the shelf it went.

He scanned the shelves once again, vowing that if this time the stuffed creature wasn't perfect then he would have to search for something else that would brighten up the profusely freckled face of his friend. Yes, he didn't approve of those freckled now that he thought about it. He couldn't approve of those freckles.

Yes, that calbbert looks like it has promise. He poked it, squish factor was correct. He ran his hand over the fur and grimaced. The fluff factor just wasn't there; he would have to move on.

Walking back out onto the street, he peered into several store windows but none of them seemed to contain stuffed animals. He finally heaved a great sigh and walked into the only pet store on the street. He has heard that people walked into there all the time, but they never came back out. But he disregarded the warning, seeing as it was Goyle who had told him this and Draco suspected he had been high at the time. With hands jammed into his pocked he strolled in and the actually animals seemed to be kept to the side. He went over to the first set of cages and peered in.

All he could see were little mounds of fur that were breathing in and out. Several labels proclaimed that they were mice, gerbils and one was a chinchilla (and it was trying to escape). Draco thought them all dull until he came eye level with a cage containing something, fat, furry and brown. The fury thing was staring at him in an altogether pleading way.

Draco stared back. It certainly had both of the factors he required in a stuffed creature, but surely a real creature would be well…different. Besides it couldn't cause too much trouble being a Muggle pet store. These animals couldn't possibly project fluids that would burn or stink.

The thing moved bringing the blonde's thoughts back to the thing, the Guinn pig. It twitched. He wasn't sure if he liked the twitch, it foreboded no good. Things that twitched in that manner with its messy hair reminded him of Potter. NO, this pig would never be for hid Ginny- which just so happened to be the name of his roommate. Calling her by her name would save thought space. He wasn't laying down any property rights on her; it was just a version of saying his roommate Ginny.

Draco moved down the wall and came face to face with a yellow bird, a canary. He had just a few memories of being one such bird and he didn't hold them in high regards. No canary for Ginny.

So, he continued to move down the isle of cages. The next cage was empty, though at one time it had contained a "cockatiel", or so the sign claimed. He didn't think he really wanted to know what a "cockatiel" was any way, so he moved towards the next pen and jerked back.

The moment he approached the glass cage the birds, which the sign claimed were "budgies", launched into the air; they were flying in a mad frenzy. Then they all settled down on a piece of wood, all except one that fluttered to the ground.

Draco leaned forward, trying to see where the lone bird had gone, only to jerk back once more as the little bird took flight, sending the other birds into the air once more. Draco watched silently as all the birds arranged themselves on the branch as they had before, and the one lone bird laded on the ground again. He felt a slight pang in his chest.

He moved to the side of the glass and leaned forward again, this time the flock of budgies stayed on their perches. The lone yellow budgie finally summoned up enough determination and landed on a branch. Budgies went wild and once again the bird Draco was watching was all by itself.

"Excuse me sir, can I help you with anything?" came a chipper voice from behind him.

Draco turned around and eyed the fake smiling woman with mild distain. "Yes, why is that bird being ostracized? What did he ever do to the other budgies?" he said while gesturing emphatically to the bird that had gained his sympathy; he knew what it was like to be alone when surrounded by an annoying twittering crowd.

The woman's fake smile slipped for a moment, but Draco resisted the urge to scowl at here. He did not appreciate being looked at as if he were a loon. Just because he could relate with the bird didn't mean that he was mad.

"Well," the woman said slowly, "sometimes birds just don't get along…like people don't get along…" Draco frowned at the woman.

"Well then, perhaps someone should buy the bird and take him away from the other stupid twits." It seemed perfectly reasonable to him.

"Yellow is our least popular budgie colour," she continued. "We've had a hard time selling them, that's why we only have just a few."

"I don't see why," Draco scowled, looking back in on the lone bird. The colour reminded him of the flowers his- Ginny brought home every Thursday night to brighten up the old place. "Yellow seems to be a perfectly attractive colour to me."

The woman blinked. "Well maybe because yellow offends some people," she started before Draco looked at with disbelief.

"Yellow is a colour. How could it offend? Well I can see how orange would be offensive but yellow's happy."

"That could be why sir," the store clerk offered before Draco cut her off.

"They are just being prejudice," she shrugged off the woman's explanation. They talked for a while after that with Draco using a condescending tone while gesturing vigorously with his hands.

With a final nod, the woman walked away, looking a little frazzles, assuring him she would box up the ostracized bird. Draco nodded firmly and blinked. Why on earth would the woman want to box up the bird? He stood there for a moment thinking it over before shrugging. It didn't really matter what she had meant as long as the bird would no longer be alone. With this in mind, he continued down the aisle coming to a long row of fish tanks.

He idly looked into them noticing a yellow fish that looked oddly familiar. It took a moment but Draco eventually recognized it as being one of the fish from one of the films Ginny had forced him to watch a few weeks ago. He though it was the one who liked bubbles. He rather liked that fish; it reminded him of him in a way. He knew what he liked and he kept others from getting it. Just like he kept others from getting his Ginny.

Not that he would ever admit that to anyone. It was no one's business but his own that messages, flowers and chocolates _mysteriously_ disappeared. He grinned up at the fish just as a strangles scream traveled down the aisle. Well maybe there was some truth to that rumor that Goyle had been mumbling about.

His gaze drafted across the tanks before landing upon a pair of fish. They were watching him. They were Breeding Convicts apparently. Maybe that's what happened to the criminals that never reappeared after being incarcerated. These muggles were certainly resourceful but it made him wonder which magically inclined person was transforming the wrongdoers.

Draco turned his head as he heard shuffling approach and say a now bird poo covered clerk stumble towards him. "Did you have any other questions sir?" this time he could tell she was wary of him; just like she was supposed to be.

"Yes," he stated, watching almost gleefully as her expression fell. "Why aren't there any other fish with those two convicts? Is it because the thought of breeding with other fish in the tank repulses them?"

"Uh…" the woman began, a slight glint of panic present in here eyes. "No…We just sold off the other pair."

"Oh," Draco replied, starting into the tank. It just didn't seem fair to him that someone would by the other pair and not these ones as well. What if when the other individual had bought the other pair they had taken the wrong mate? It seemed a horrid fate to him and he told the sales clerk just that.

Draco almost grinned in delight as the woman began to look slightly cross-eyed. He had confused her, but surely that couldn't be right. He was handsome, charming, intelligent, and wealthy- the lists of attributes just went on and on- but articulate most importantly, she had no reason to be confused. She was lucky that she had the chance to bask in his presence even though he was having perverse enjoyment from his mild tormenting.

The poo covered frizzy haired woman stumbled away muttering about vicious cichlids and Draco wondered why she was talking about vicious illness, maybe she wasn't healthy.

With yes another shrug, he turned away from the fish and walked down an Aisle stocked full of fish accessories. There were tanks, pebbles, shinny objects and dragon sculptures. He glanced at the dragons but they all looked too fat to be real. Didn't these Muggles know anything about dragons?

He exited the aisle and saw a row of cages a few meters away. Ignoring the pond filled with plans (and why would a Muggle want a pet plant anyway? Their plans didn't do anything) he headed towards the cages, curious as to what innocent creature they had caged this time.

He stopped and read the sign which read, Dwarf Rabbits. He looked down on them. Well, they were a little on the small side. He glanced over at the other cage where a large, fat, white rabbit sat, looking at him through red eyes. It was double the size of all the other rabbits.

He approached the cage with his finger in the poke-the-animal-in-the-cage position, wiggling it in slight anticipation of the feel of soft rabbit fur.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," the sales lady warned. Draco glanced at here taking in her frazzled hair, poo covered body and sopping wet shirt. She looked as though she would have been twitching, but she apparently wasn't quite at that stage. Yet.

He wasn't quite sure why she had that paranoid look. They had only talked just a few times, and if you asked him, he was remarkable well behaved. There hadn't been a wizard or Muggle comment the whole time he had been in this store. It was this paranoia that made his disregard her advice. Paranoid people just had no reason to be so suspicious of everything.

Draco turned his thoughts back to this white rabbit with red eyes. An albino rabbit. He could certainly relate with that label. His fair skin had often drawn such unfounded comments. He stuck his finger in the cage and wiggled it. "Bunny…bunny…" he sang trying to stroke its fur.

The bunny apparently didn't appreciate having a finger being wiggled under its nose and its sharp shinny teeth were revealed. "Bad bunny! NO biting Draco Malfoy. Malfoy's shouldn't be bitted by rodents," he lectured the rabbit.

It was at that moment that the rabbit decided it was time to get rid of the wiggling finger. In short, the rabbit lunged at Draco's wiggling finger, completely ignoring his lecture, and smartly took a bite.

Draco let out a yelp and pulled his finger back, glaring down at the stupid white thing. He looked down on his elegantly long finger and was surprised to see that there was no blood oozing from it. There was only a small indent. Draco clutched it to his chest none the less and scowled at the rabbit. "Stupid bunny," he snarled.

The sales lady let out a pleased snort and meandered away. "Fine, no one ever listens to me….blah blah blah." Draco directed his scowl at her. The stupid bint didn't realize the pain he was in. He had just been attached by a vicious creature! Oh what had the world come to?

He turned his glare upon the dwarf rabbits; maybe the little ones weren't as violent as the possessed rodent devil. There were ones with floppy ears and some had little-well big for them- ears that were like those "antenna" things Ginny showed him. There were also fuzzy. Draco's glare softened and his voice almost sounded coddling.

"Fuzzy bunny wouldn't bite a handsome guy like me, would you bunny?" he asked almost uncertainly, as if he were scared of a repeat of the tooth performance- but surely it was another emotion. He was just being cautious. He didn't have to worry about the possibility of the dwarf rabbits biting him, however for the sales clerk decided to make another appearance.

"Don't tell me," the lady said, still slightly out of breath. She was holding a bag filled with water. Draco looked into it and saw the Breeding Convicts which he had seen in the tank a short while ago. He wondered where the fish were going. Maybe some sort of fish prison, or maybe some ingenious person had decided to breed an army of dangerous fish so he/she could take over the world. It did have merit; maybe this was where Voldemort went wrong. "Which ever one you poke and has the proper amount of bunny softness will be the right one, right?" Draco raises an eyebrow.

"That's what the kids do," she explained, her voice getting slightly more high-pitched. "They poke them all, every single one. Even if they don't want a new pet bunny! I don't know how much more of all their poking I can take." She stood there, her eyes wide and her hands flailing, she was also breathing heavily and it wasn't attractive at all. Draco thought it best to ignore her and stuck his wiggling finger into the cage.

"Bunny," he cooed. And you know what? He poked every bunny and what the sales clerk had said was right, he could tell which one he wanted just by poking.

Ginny heard a familiar pop and she ran back into her bedroom and scrambled back under her covers. She sniffled just a few times for good measure and put on what she though was an appropriately bored, yet pathetic expression.

"Draco," she called out feebly. "Is that you?"

"Of course it's me. Who else would it be?" came her blonde roommate's voice. "Are you expecting someone else?" his tone sounded positively indignant.

"No," she hacked. "So did you bring me something that would make me feel better?"

"Well just a few things…small things really if you want to be accurate," was his wary reply.

"Oh?" she asked, giving off another cough and rustled her covers. She resisted the urge to leap to her feet and run to see what he had bought. Draco always brought home the most interesting things when he was trying to cheer her up. Usually she laughed at them- internally of course—it wouldn't do to damage the blonde's ego. It would take ages to get him to stop moping if she did.

She heard his feet shuffle towards her room and she sat up in the bed, bringing her blanket to her chin. It wouldn't be good if he saw that she wasn't exactly dressed in her pajamas.

There was more shuffling and some muttering then a chirp. She frowned. Since when did her roommate chirp? She began to get worried. Perhaps the twins had gotten a hold of him as they had been threatening to do. She hated it when Draco was a canary.

"Draco?" she called out as feebly as she could. "Are you alright?"

"I'm just peachy," he replied, louder then before.

"But peachy isn't exactly a good thing…"

"Yeah well," he said as he stepped into the room. Ginny's eyes fell on what was in his arms and her eyes widened.

"Draco," she said carefully. "Is that a…bunny?"

Draco nodded seriously. "And an ostracized budgie, and a pair of lonely breeding convicts. Turns out they weren't being used to take over the world and well, you know how I feel about wasting a brilliant idea," he shrugged as if that explained it all.

"You bought me animals to make me feel better? What about a stuffed animal or something well, normal?" the red nosed and haired girl asked.

"The stuffies just weren't right for you…I looked! But you now what? Nothing was perfect for my Ginny except these few animals, which just so happened to remind me of well- me."

"How egotistical of you," she muttered, eyeing the fuzzy looking bunny, the box which undoubtedly contained the supposedly ostracized budgie and the bag filled with water and two fish. She felt a headache coming on. "But Draco, what are we supposed to do with all these animals? We don't have any cages or a fish tank. Where are the fish going to live? The bathtub?"

"That's not a bad idea," Draco said, his face creased with seriousness. "It's not like I ever take baths anyway."

Ginny rubbed her eyes wearily and counted to ten silently. "Draco… sweetie pie… you stand in the bathtub to take a shower."

Draco smiled happily- she called him sweetie pie- "well I'll be careful," he pointed out. Ginny looked slightly perturbed. "Right, I wouldn't want to squish them accidentally if I slipped on the soap. The sink would be much better," he amended.

Ginny opened her mouth just a few times, but no sound came out. Even if she would have managed speech- if given the proper amount of time- she didn't get it because there was a knock at the door.

Draco scowled. "Now who could that possibly be?" he muttered, walking out of her room. "I swear if it's bloody Potter again spouting drunken 'love songs' I will not hesitate to knock out his two font teeth."

Yet the individual at the door did not have glasses and a scar, but rather a baseball cap and several missing baby teeth. He looked owly up at Draco. "I was just wondering if Ginny was done with my slingshot yet?" the small boy asked.

"Slingshot?" Draco asked.

"Yeah, she was showing me the proper way to hold it to get the perfect trajectory. She's really good with a slingshot, did you know that?"

Draco made an odd choking noise as he stared at the boy, the implications of what the boy was saying sinking in. But before he could ask him to elaborate the boy's gaze focused past him with the utmost horror. Draco looked around and saw that the budgie was doing laps around the ceiling.

"West Nile!" the boy shrieked, turning tail and running down the hall and out of Draco's sight.

Draco didn't even scowl after him. Instead he turned towards Ginny's bedroom and slammed the front door behind him. He had just a few nasty choice words he wanted to share with that woman. Even if she wasn't his; yet.

Disclaimer: Well, wasn't that fun? We thought so, and hope you did too. But if you didn't we really don't care because we had fun writing it, and that's all that really matters (to us anyways). Oh and so did the guy who was listening to us edit. We own the things we bough on the trip and the strange ideas but not much else, such as Draco or Gunny. One of these days we will each find a Draco and then he will be all outs. But until then…Oh, and the Monty Python rip isn't ours either. FIND IT!


End file.
